In 1985 I went on a road trip with a friend from Winter Haven, Florida to San Diego, California. It wasn’t a straight shot across the southern border of the country, but rather an arch that included a stop in Kansas City, MO to visit my family. After leaving KC, we headed across the plains of Kansas and Colorado and then south though four corners and into Arizona. On the way we stopped at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It was March and there was snow in the canyon. It was truly a remarkable site. Unfortunately, my camera had been stolen about a month before so I wasn’t able to take any pictures. Janet had never been to the Grand Canyon so I thought it would be great to be able to share this adventure, and have something to show for it.

We booked a guided tour for the day. The bus was originally scheduled to leave at 6:30 AM but was delayed until 8:00. This meant we didn’t have to get up as early, but also meant that we would be getting back to the hotel later than planned. Our guide for the day was a standup comedian who provided commentary and laughs throughout the trip. The excursion included a stop at a local pancake house for breakfast and a box lunch at the canyon. The whole operation really reminded me of the excursions we book on a cruise.

After breakfast we made a quick stop at Hoover Dam to take pictures. Everyone was pretty shocked at how low the water level has gotten due to years of drought and increased demand. The dam itself is very impressive and we enjoyed walking out on the bridge to take the pictures.

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The Western Rim of the canyon is about a three hour drive from Las Vegas. To get there you travel through reservation land and desert. There’s certainly not much to see out the windows and our guide had difficulty providing narration without constantly repeating himself.

We finally made it to the canyon and proceeded to our first of two stops, Guano Point which derived it’s name from the fact that they used to collect bat dung there for making cosmetics. Here we enjoyed our box lunches and got some great pictures. This area of the canyon isn’t as wide as what I had seen at the Southern Rim back in 85, but it is still quite amazing. In our safe and sanitized world, it’s hard to believe that an attraction like this doesn’t include safety rails. However, this area is pretty natural. Our guide said about a dozen people fall each year due to getting too close to the rim. We decided not to be one of those statistics and kept a healthy distance from the edge.

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Our second stop was at Eagle Point, so named for the rock formation that resembles an eagle. This area is the more developed of the two as it also includes a glass bottom bridge that allows for visitors to walk out over the edge and peer straight down a few thousand feet. This would have been an additional $25 fee for each of us, however neither of us are that fond of vertigo so took a pass. Instead we explored the Native American housing exhibit and the authentic tribal dancing demonstration.

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I would be totally remiss if I did not explain this next picture as our guide must have described this feature at least 20 times totaling nearly and hour of monologue on the bus. Above the canyon are mountains that appear painted with reddish colored hues. On one of these mountains appears to be the image of a young girl. She has a pony tail and is facing a horse and kissing it’s forehead. The horse’s head can be seen facing her. To me, the horse looks like Gumby’s horse Pokey. If you cannot see this image of a girl and a horse, I know a comedian from Michigan who would be happy to point it out to you.

Our trip to the Grand Canyon was complete so we boarded our bus and headed back. There are great things about guided tours and there are not so great things about guided tours. The great part is that you get on the bus and everything is taken care of from beginning to end. The not so great part is that you might be subjected to watching Chevy Chase’s Las Vegas vacation during the return trip. I suppose it was better than listening to the comedian explain the horse and the girl again.